Fading From Memory
by Michaela Martin
Summary: A collection of stand alone Beauty and the Beast one shots. Based on the 1991 version.
1. Embrace

He stared at Belle as if he'd never seen her before. He hadn't seen her, truly, until he was whole again. Beast — No, Adam. His name, his identity restored to him. He was whole and she was here with him. Belle came back. She came back. She came back to him. She loved him. Belle loved him. She was real. His hands — real — not covered in fur and damaging claws — rested on her cheeks. Belle's cheeks. Too long he longed to touch her, to be with her. He loved her, everything about her. She was everything to him and he would spend the rest of his life reminding her. His thumbs wiped away the tears she shed when it seemed he had been lost to her.

"You're alive," she whispered over and over, kissing the palms of his hands. "You're real. You're alive. You're here."

"Belle," his voice was different. Gone were the growls and heavy breath. His voice still deep and intoxicating, sent shivers down her spine.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her for what seemed like hours. He took in everything his human senses had been missing. The sight of the castle coming back to life. The sounds of her breathing and speech. The warmth of her skin against his own. He would have spent forever there holding her, his love, his life in his arms.

"What do I call you now?" her soft voice asked, her brown eyes staring into his soulful blue, the only human part of him that remained upon the casting of the his curse.

"My mother called me Adam," he said. "But you, my Belle, may call me whatever your heart desires."

"My dear, my dearest," Belle said, pushing a lock of his hair from his face. She drank him in, seeing him as he truly was. The man beneath the creature. "Dear Adam."

She rested her head on his chest, the same as when they were dancing. How long ago that seemed when it was only a few short hours ago. A few short hours ago his heart was broken that she was leaving. She was leaving.

"You came back," Adam said again.

"I came home." She pulled away and stared into his eyes. "I never should have left you. I should have told you I would come back. That I would bring my father here to recover. I should have…"

"Peace Belle, peace." He kissed her forehead and pulled her back into his embrace. "None of that matters now, love. You are here and everything's going to be fine now." He softly kissed her, pouring his love into her. A love that would never end. A love that would last the ages. A love that was true.


	2. Goodbyes

_"Take it with you. So you'll always have a way to look back – and remember me."_

 _"Thank you for understanding how much he needs me."_

Belle left the Beast's chambers and across the wings to her own apartments. The skirts of her borrowed gown swished and swirled under her feet. She made a mental list of the things she should take with her to find her father. While the mirror couldn't tell her exactly where Maurice was in the forest, she had the faith in herself and the magic that she had been surrounded by in the past few months. Magic. A concept she had only known in books.

She looked around her rooms. He had given her more of what Mrs. Potts had said was his mother's rooms after Christmas. He wanted her to feel at home. And Belle couldn't tell you when it happened, that defining moment when she no longer felt like a prisoner but a wanted guest. If she really thought about it, the moment came to her. She had been watching him behind the tree while they were feeding the birds that hadn't flown to warmer lands for the bitterly cold winter they were enduring. The Beast was trying. He was trying to be the gentleman she had fallen in love with – the heroes of her books. She watched him from behind the tree, watching the little birds eat from his paw. When they went back inside to warm up, he had offered her his arm to guide her up the slippery stone steps. She was home. Home with someone who understood her. Didn't treat her differently because she was always reading.

She carefully undid the lacings of the beautiful gold gown, stepping out of it and laying it on the warm bed she had finally got to be the right level of comfort and warmth. She would miss the castle. She would miss the servants, Chip most of all. The little boy – she was sure of it – the little boy trapped as a teacup had been her friend. They wouldn't understand. Cogsworth, Lumerie, Mrs. Potts – they all had been so kind, so welcoming to this stranger. A tear pricked in her eyes as Belle knew she wouldn't be able to say goodbye to them.

Unable to think about her dear friends any longer she quickly changed into her simple dress. She looked west, wishing to be able to see through stone, wanting to see him one last time. That night had been so perfect. The dinner, the music and the dance. It was all she could have dreamt of and now – now it was over. She had to find her father.

The mournful howl was the last thing she heard over the pounding hooves on the frozen ground.


	3. Golden Silk

Someone, they would never say who, let it slip that it was the Master's birthday. The birthday they had been dreading for some time now. But with Belle there, it may turn out just the way the castle residents had dreamed. They had spent the whole week preparing the castle. Washing windows that hadn't been washed in years. The gardens tended even with the winter snows still on the ground. The ballroom was mopped and polished. The brass was shining so brightly that all reflections were visible. It was the first grand party the servants had planned in a long time. It was hard for Mrs. Potts to say who was more nervous and excited; the Master or Cogsworth.

The Master was pacing the halls of the West Wing. He was filled with a nervous energy that couldn't be contained. Tonight he was going to tell her. He was going to tell Belle the truth, or as much of it that could be told. He was going to tell her that he loved her. And he hoped and prayed beyond all that he was allowed that she felt the same. He didn't know what would happen but he could only hope that it wouldn't scare Belle away. He couldn't bear to lose her. Not now. Not when he's come so far. Belle was his future and he had to make it happen.

For the first time, they were dining a formal dinner together. Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts had been working in the kitchens all day to make a feast grander than any they had ever attempted. For Lumiere, he was charged with getting the Master clean and tidy for his dinner. His grand suit, the enchanted sewing supplies worked endlessly to find things that A) fit and B) looked regal enough for a formal dinner setting.

Belle spent hours in the castle going from room to room to see what was in each of the wardrobes. In the dark corners of the East Wing, where his mother's apartments had been, Belle found wrapped away a bolt of golden silk. Having never owned anything as grand, Belle hurried down the long corridors to her rooms. There she found the enchanted scissors and her assistants, and together they created a voluminous gown, fit for a queen.

Belle grew up poor but had always dreamt of a time when she would look the part of an elegant lady. As a girl in Paris, she would see the elegant ladies about with their escorts and wonder where they had come from; who they were. She would make up stories about the lives they led and wondered if there would ever come a time when it would be her turn.

Now it would be...


End file.
